Intentions to Marry, 1868

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840380, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 476

District of Quarter ending

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1734	7 July 1868	Arthur George Marsh Ellen Moran	Arthur George Marsh Ellen Moran 💍 1868/6011	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	25 22	Christchurch Do	2 years 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	474		9 July 1868	Rev. Father Chate
1735	8 July 1868	William Turner Eliza King	William Turner Eliza King 💍 1868/6374 George William Murray Eliza King 💍 1868/5282	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Dealer	32 18	Christchurch Do	3 mths 2 years	In the Church of St. Michael	601	Frederick King, Father	8 July 1868	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
1736	9 July 1868	Richard Lucas Isabella McKay	Richard Lucas Isabella McKay 💍 1868/6230	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	28 19	Lake Coleridge Christchurch	3 years 5 years	In the Scotch Church, Cashel Street	544	George McKay, Father	9 July 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1737	10 July 1868	Joseph Griensly Mary Jane Strange	Joseph Grimsey Mary Jane Strange 💍 1868/9623	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 35	Papanui Riccarton	3 years 2 mths	In the Riccarton Church	932		13 July 1868	Rev. C. Bowen
1738	11 July 1868	William Blackler Eleanor Tweedie	William Blackler Eleanor Tweedie 💍 1868/6233	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Shands Track Leeston	4 mths 2 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	550		11 July 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1739	13 July 1868	Henry Ribblewhite Elizabeth Novis	Henry Kibblewhite Elizabeth Novis 💍 1868/4308	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 18	Merivale Riccarton	1 week 2 years	In the Riccarton Church	2330	Thomas Novis, Father	28 July 1868	Rev. J. Wilson
1740	14 July 1868	George Bull Emma Louisa Warwick	George Bull Emma Louisa Dowrick 💍 1868/4940	Widower Spinster	Farrier Servant	40 39	Christchurch Do	2 weeks 2 weeks	In the Church of St. John			14 July 1868	Rev. Bryen Hoare
1741	14 July 1868	William Henry Lynam Lellian Fyfe	William Henry Lyndam Lillian Fyfe 💍 1868/6236	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	30 25	Christchurch Do	8 mths 6 mths	In the Scotch Church, Tuam Street	557		14 July 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1742	14 July 1868	Morgan Davis Emma North Mumford	Morgan Davis Emma North Mumford 💍 1868/6380	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 18	Mid-mile road Do	1 mth 3 mths	In the Church of St Michael	610	David Mumford, Father	14 July 1868	Very Rev Dean Jacobs

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).